I extracted this from Korn Ferry’s CEO Gary Burnison latest book Leadership U ~ Accelerating Throigh the Crisis Curve.

This is the story shared by Gary Burnison

“Every time we have a discussion, there’s complete alignment – 100 percent buy-in.”

It sounded too good to be true – and, as it turned out, it was.

I can distinctly remember the interview we conducted with an executive at the start of the pandemic. When we asked him about his process for getting buy-in from his team, the executive couldn’t wait to give an example.

“During a Zoom meeting with my team, we had a particularly important decision to make. So, I went around to everyone and asked for a ‘thumbs up’ or a ‘thumbs down’ on my idea. Before they voted, I told them that, for me, this was definitely a ‘thumbs up.’”

“And how did that work out?” we asked him.

“Amazing—it was unanimous!” he said. “One person’s hand wavered a little bit, but in the end, it was ‘thumbs up’ as well. It was just incredible to see 10 people on my screen – all completely aligned.”

Are they completely aligned? Really?

This is a common problem. When people are afraid to tell Leaders the truth, they will only say what they think the Leader wants to hear. In the case of this Executive, by giving his opinion first, he told his team that he wasn’t really interested in their feedback.

What can you do about this?

Be patient. Share your ideas or opinions last. Perhaps, you may not even need to share at all as your people come up with great ideas.

As a Coach or Coaching Leader, we do believe that Diamond lies among ordinary rocks. We believe that people are capable, creative & has all the resources available to come up with their own answers.

Are you patient enough to wait for the answer? You will be rewarded with amazing & surprising results.

Thank you Gary Burnison what a great example!